


Free Like a Child

by AbstractAurora



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School
Genre: Childhood, F/M, First Date, Hinanami Week, Pre-Despair, Ramen, Stress, Toys, Video & Computer Games, playground
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 04:26:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7743337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbstractAurora/pseuds/AbstractAurora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hajime and Chiaki, in a break from their usual round of playing video games, decide to go on a date in the city.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Free Like a Child

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the "Childhood" prompt for Hinanami Week. This takes place approximately between episodes 2 and 3 of the Despair Arc.

The grounds surrounding Hope's Peak Academy were beautiful - Hajime Hinata could not deny this fact. The cobblestone paths, the garden of small trees designed by the Ultimate Botanist, the majestic water fountain sitting in the center... All of it was a testament to the talent of the students who have stepped foot in the school. But not even the beauty of the campus could convince him that attending the school was not a huge mistake.

When he first decided to spend the money to attend Hope's Peak Academy, Hajime had given himself hope that attending would lead him to greatness. He wouldn't have to sit back and allow himself to accept a normal life - if he just worked hard enough, he could become as talented as any Ultimate.

But the past few months had taken all of those hopes and crushed it into smithereens. To be a Reserve Course student was to live a life under the shadow of those who were better than him. Hajime knew now that a name of a school alone could not bring him greatness - but it was too late to turn back and try again.

He sat down on the edge of the fountain, waiting. There was at least one aspect to his life at Hope's Peak Academy that he enjoyed. And that was...

"Hajime!"

The sound of a familiar soft, warm voice quieted his melancholy thoughts. He waved once he saw Chiaki Nanami approach him, holding two handheld gaming devices. Whenever they could, they got together at the fountain and played video games. And today Hajime had a question for her that he had been preparing for a week.

"I brought two Game Girls with me today," Chiaki said. "We can play Gala Omega again!"

"All right..." Hajime said. Now was the time to ask her. "But do you want to try something else next time we meet up?"

"Okay... I have a lot of games we could play."

"I wasn't talking about a game." At this point Chiaki appeared confused. As he felt his heart beat faster, Hajime said, "How about... we go somewhere this weekend?"

Her confusion was replaced with curiosity. "Where?"

"Um... somewhere in the city? If you want to, that is..." At that moment he was ready to slap himself for revealing to her just how jittery he was.

Chiaki nodded. "I'd be up for that. To where though?"

"Uh..." _Crap, what do I say?!_  When Hajime first thought up the idea of going on a date with Chiaki, he had imagined a date along the lines of a dinner and movie. But it only occurred to him now that she might have not been the "dinner-and-a-movie" type. What could he tell her?

"It's... a surprise," he managed to say. "Not somewhere too fancy, but..."

Sensing his nervousness, Chiaki smiled reassuringly. "I'd be happy to go with you anywhere."

Although Hajime was satisfied with her answer, it did nothing to calm his nerves. When they went on to play a few rounds of Gala Force, he sighed at every defeat he suffered. As the Ultimate Gamer Chiaki always kicked his ass at Gala Force. Today, however, he was even worse than usual. He knew exactly why too: The past few minutes had pushed all his inexperience and naiveté out in the forefront. As a result his nerves were completely shot.

_I can't believe she's still willing to play video games with me,_ Hajime thought by the time they departed to return to their own dorm rooms. Chiaki was the best at gaming, so of course she would be used to beating everyone she played with. But why play with him? It was a question he asked himself every night after they hung out.

* * *

 

Classes for the day were over. For Hajime, though, the exhaustion he felt throughout the day refused to leave him.

Slumped over, he left the classroom. Larger, grander buildings cast a shadow over the school, as to remind the lowly students how little they meant to the world of the talented and elite.

Hajime recalled the salarymen of his childhood - the men dressed in business suits much like his own, walking to work with bleary eyes and broken dreams. They would only emerge from their concrete prisons after night had fallen (surely they could not leave work until their bosses did!). To be a salaryman in Japan was to be a part of a giant machine as large as society itself. It left a man tired, overworked and possibly dead inside - but also accepted. To be a salaryman was the destiny of someone normal. It was the destiny that Hajime Hinata knew he must accept someday.

Only there were no greater desire inside him than a chance to be something, or _someone_ more.

Hajime wandered through the darkened hallways of the lesser Hope's Peak Academy, wearing the same bleary eyes as the salarymen he watched in his youth. Back then he had not understood why they always appeared hours away from passing out. The fact he knew now only further depressed him.

Passing by a worn-out inspirational poster ("Find your place, and the rest will follow," it said.), Hajime wondered, as he often did, whether the name Hope's Peak Academy was worth the money and effort he had given in order to attend the school. Right before he left his hometown, he had promised his parents that he would help pay the tuition fees. Unfortunately the economy was still in a rut, and he could not find any work for someone as unskilled as himself.

_Was all of this really worth attending Hope's Peak Academy?_ Hajime thought. _Probably not._

Except for one reason, or rather one person: Chiaki Nanami. Even during his worst days, where the entire world was crushing his back with expectations, Hajime cherished the times they hung out by the fountain. And it was their weekend date that prevented him from completely drowning in a sea of despair at that particular moment. And why not? Unlike the people around him Chiaki was the only person who treated him as a friend, or even just a _person_. All this, despite the fact that she had an amazing talent worthy of the title "Ultimate."

That did lead to another question that lingered in the back of his mind constantly: What, exactly, did Chiaki see in him? Why befriend someone like him? She could play video games in her sleep, and he... he was just Hajime Hinata.

He considered something that she had told him when they first met. After bemoaning his lack of talent, Chiaki had said that quality gave him more freedom than someone like her.

Hajime thought about those words frequently, but he could not bring himself to agree with her. His lack of talent only constrained him into a life of constant thankless work - like the work a salaryman did.

It also reminded him of something that had happened in middle school. Before graduation one of his teachers told him that high school was when a person was given the most freedom. After that, she claimed, the world of grown-ups awaited him, and he would never get that freedom back.

He actually agreed with his former teacher, with one caveat: He felt like his chance at freedom was all but lost the moment he set foot in his first class at the lesser Hope's Peak Academy.

That was why his date with Chiaki was particularly meaningful. Hajime wanted nothing more to escape Hope's Peak Academy for a few hours and pretend for a while that the world was filled with an infinite amount of possibilities.

* * *

 

After lunch on Saturday, Hajime arrived at the fountain as planned, dressed casually for the first time in weeks. And she was waiting for him with a friendly face.

He was relieved when he saw what Chiaki was wearing - or rather, what she _wasn't_ wearing. Instead of her uniform she wore a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt with a plain skirt. He didn't what to dictate what she wore, but he figured walking through the city alongside a girl who was clearly an Ultimate would probably not go well for either of them. It would be like a princess traveling side-by-side with a peasant.

"Hello, Hajime!" Chiaki greeted him.

"Hey..." he said. Already he felt some sweat running down his neck.

"I decided not to bring any video games with me, because I knew you wanted to try something different," she told him. "So where are we going?"

Hajime had spent the previous night mapping out their route, so he knew what to say. "I was thinking we could go to the park," he told her, "then we could swing by the train station and explore. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good to me!" Chiaki said.

When they began to walk away from the campus, the first thing Hajime noticed was how attentive she appeared to be compared to previous meet-ups. Most of the time Chiaki had her nose buried in a handheld gaming device; just the mere fact that all her attention was now focused on him was nothing short of overwhelming.

It was easier to be friends with her when they spent most of the time staring at screens. But now... it occurred to him that their date would be much different than other times they had spent together.

"So," Chiaki said, "what do you want to talk about?"

"Um... anything you want, I guess." Hajime wished he had a better answer for her. Still, it was an answer as truthful as could be.

"Okay. Tell me about yourself."

"Me?" he said. "Uh, well... Okay... Before coming here... um, I lived in a large town my entire life. My mom is a secretary at an elementary school, and my father works at a large corporation. I don't have any siblings."

He was surprised that Chiaki was enthralled with what he was saying. Did she have a thirst for hearing about normal lives like his own? Or was it something else?

"I had some friends while I was growing up," he added, encouraged by her eagerness. "I was known as the 'reliable one' - not really outstanding, but someone you could count on."

"Reliable," Chiaki repeated. She smiled wider. "That sounds about right!"

Hajime couldn't help but smile back. The date had only started minutes ago, and already he was in a good mood.

"Let me ask you a question," he said. "When did you first start playing video games?"

Chiaki blinked. "When did I start? I can't remember anymore... For as long as I was allowed to touch a controller, I guess." Her eyes then lit up. "Can I tell you my first memory?"

"Go ahead."

"I went to this arcade in another city when I was 5 or 6, I think," she told him. "I remember all these big kids crowding around the Virtua Fighter 3 arcade machine. They couldn't have been more than 14, but they seemed grown-up to me." Chiaki laughed to herself a little. "And I remember wanting to play it. So I did, and I ended up beating them in every match-up!"

"Wow..." It was definitely a childhood story fitting for the Ultimate Gamer.

"They didn't understand how a little girl could beat them all at a fighting game," she said. "And at the time I didn't either. I had to go before I could tell them anything. It didn't take me long to realize that I was a natural at playing video games... and I've been aware of my talent ever since."

"So that's you found out about your talent, huh..." Hajime said. "Oh look, we're at the park."

Indeed, they were now standing at the entrance of a park known for its botanical gardens and spectacular view of the mountains. The park rested on a hill, so he could see an ocean of houses and telephone poles from where they were standing.

Chiaki exhaled. "I'm tired already... Will you carry me if I get too exhausted to walk?"

"Okay..." Hajime said. Then, "Wait, what?"

She only laughed in response. Hajime, feeling his face heat up, decided not to say anything else.

It took another minute before he was calm enough to speak again: "Want to sit down somewhere?"

"Okay," Chiaki said. "Where?"

"Uh..." Hajime craned his neck and scanned the park, but he couldn't see any benches in eyesight. _Why aren't there any benches around here?_

"Oh, I know!" She pointed to a playground sitting in the center of a concrete circle. Trimmed bushes surrounded it. "Let's go over there!"

"The playground?" Hajime said. "Well... oh, fine."

They walked over to the playground and found places to sit on the double slide. Oddly enough there were no kids playing near them; most of the people in the park were either occupied with flying kites in a field nearby or just walking around the perimeter.

"Did you ever play on the playground when you were little?" Chiaki asked him.

"Sometimes," Hajime said. "There was a park on the other side of town where I used to live. My parents and I would go there during the summer when we wanted some fresh air."

Chiaki nodded knowingly. "I remember when I was little, I was often forced to go to the playground when it was nice out. I would end up pretending I was in a video game and the playground equipment were obstacles in a level. It made things more fun... I think."

They sat in silence for a moment, allowing a breeze to fan their faces. Birds and kites flew through the cloudless sky. He relaxed - sitting on the slide alongside Chiaki, he felt a million miles away from Hope's Peak Academy.

"Hajime?" Chiaki suddenly said.

"Yes?"

"Do you ever get the urge to play on a playground?"

Hajime chuckled. "I haven't done that since I was a kid..."

"We're still kids, aren't we?"

"Not really...." He paused. "I mean, we're not exactly _adults_ either, but..."

Chiaki smiled at him. She then slid down the slide, letting the wind into her hair. Hajime followed, unable to quiet the thought in his head that even a slide was too silly for his sensibilities.

After that they decided to leave the park and head for the train station before it got too dark. While they walked, Hajime felt a tinge of sadness in his heart. A part of him wanted to run back to the playground and actually play like a child on the swing sets or monkey bars - but now it was too late to turn back.

* * *

 

The train station was located southeast of Hope's Peak Academy, down by the river. While the station itself was unremarkable, a variety of businesses and shops were located in the surrounding neighborhood. Even when Hajime had the opportunity to look around the city before he first entered the academy, he chose not to explore this particular neighborhood - it was known for being somewhat of a tourist trap. But since the selection of stores was expansive, he figured they could find plenty to do now.

_Where should we go next?_ Hajime asked himself. He spotted a clothing store to his left, across from a moped shop. _Does she like shopping for clothes? If I had to guess, probably not, but..._

"Let's go in there!" Chiaki said. She pointed ahead.

He looked over to where she pointed and saw an extravagantly decorated toy store. Balloons and streamers surrounded the entrance.

"What, the toy store?" Hajime said. "Are we still being kids?"

"Why not?"

He recalled his earlier regret over not staying at the playground longer. With that in mind he agreed to follow her into the toy store.

The first thing Hajime noticed was the store did not just sell toys - it also contained a large collection of manga and trading cards near the front. He also realized that the toy store resembled a storage closet. Action figurines and board games were haphazardly lying around the shelves. The shelves were so close together, Hajime felt like he was one bad trip away from knocking over the entire store's inventory.

"Did you ever play with toys when you were a kid?" Chiaki asked him.

Hajime shrugged. "I guess. Didn't everyone?" He paused. "I mean, I used to like those super robot figurines. Oh, and I really liked the Mega Rangers series. I had all of the rangers."

She appeared happy with his response, to the point where Hajime wondered if she had a specific reason for asking him that question.

"How about you?" he decided to say.

"My favorite toys were video games," Chiaki told him, "but I often got plush versions of my favorite characters for Christmas. I wonder if they still sell them..."

She wandered further into the store, disappearing behind a shelf displaying model trains. Hajime carefully walked down the aisle, examining the toys. A thought passed through his mind: Since he did not care for toys, perhaps it would be a nice gesture to buy one for Chiaki. But where were the video game-themed toys...?

"Hajime!"

He saw Chiaki walk up to him. In her hands was a plush toy of an anthropomorphic spacecraft. He vaguely remembered seeing the character in an old video game, but he wasn't sure of its name.

"I found this with all the plush toys," she said. "How about you? Do you want to buy something?"

"I'm a little too old to be buying toys for myself, don't you think?" Hajime asked her.

"All right... Should we go then?"

"Um..." Hajime spotted a row of cheap figurines to his right. He still wasn't interested in buying toys - but what if he merely bought a _souvenir_ for himself...?

Ultimately Hajime decided to purchase a miniature figure of a super robot he remembered liking during his childhood. _At least this will make Chiaki happy,_ he thought - though he couldn't help but imagine it sitting on his desk back in his dorm room. It would certainly liven up the place.

After exiting the toy store Hajime and Chiaki continued their walk and turned a corner, only to find themselves in the busiest part of the neighborhood. Almost out of instinct Hajime grabbed Chiaki's hand.

"Hajime..." she whispered.

"Let's stay together," he told her quietly. Although he had not realized until it then, his throat had gotten dry over the past minute.

Hand in hand they walked down the street. Hajime looked over at Chiaki, who was staring with wonder at the people passing them. He noticed that her cheeks had become pink.

While they crossed the street, he moved closer to her so that he would not accidentally lose her among the crowds. The pinkness in her cheeks deepened, and Hajime knew he had to be blushing madly himself. He felt like he was one moment away from screwing up somehow and ending their date right then and there.

_I wish I had more experience with this kind of thing,_ Hajime thought. Then again Chiaki hardly seemed any more experienced, which was somewhat reassuring. At least they were in the same boat.

The smell of pancakes from a nearby okonomiyaki restaurant made his stomach rumble, reminding him that he had not eaten in hours. _We might as well eat something while we're out._

"Are you hungry, Chiaki?" Hajime asked her.

"I... think so..." she replied, as if she weren't sure herself.

"Is there anywhere in particular you want to go?"

"Not really... I'll let you pick."

He looked around. There was a pub to his right, and a coffee shop next to it. But it was the ramen shop to his left that caught his eye. Hajime had not brought much money with him, and the super robot figurine had wiped over half of the money he had on hand. The ramen would probably be the cheapest option that would still be appetizing.

"All right, let's go get some ramen," Hajime said, and they quickly headed for the shop.

* * *

 

"I'm glad you reminded me," Chiaki told him when they sat down with their ramen ten minutes later. "I sometimes forget to eat when I'm occupied with something."

"Like video games?" Hajime asked.

She lightly tittered in response, then she got to eating.

Hajime waited until they were halfway through their meals before he spoke again. "So... um, are you enjoying yourself?"

"I'm having a wonderful time, Hajime!" Chiaki's voice was louder than usual, taking him aback. "How about you?"

"I... I'm enjoying myself," he managed. "I'm actually feeling carefree for once. I haven't felt this way since I was a child."

"Since you were a child?"

"I think so... That's when a person has the most freedom, don't you think?"

"Really?" Chiaki said, sounding curious. "I don't know... You didn't make decisions for yourself back then, did you? You parents probably decided everything..."

"It's no different than right now," Hajime said.

Chiaki frowned but said nothing else. They quietly returned to eating their ramen.

"It's too bad that you feel like you have less freedom now than you did when you were little," Chiaki suddenly said after some time had passed. "I feel a lot better about my life than I used to."

"What do you mean?" he said.

"Hajime, I didn't have a lot of friends growing up. I kept to myself and played video games... I don't remember the last time I went to a ramen shop and ate with a friend, or even with anyone I cared about..."

His heart began to beat faster. "You... care about me, Chiaki?"

"I... guess I do." She blushed. "I'm glad to have met you, Hajime."

His eyes widened, and he was left unable to answer. While Chiaki continued eating her ramen, he replayed her words in his head: _I'm glad to have met you, Hajime._

It took until they had left the ramen shop before he could bring himself to speak again.

"There's an arcade over there," Hajime said, pointing across the road from where they were standing. "Do you want to go over there?"

"I'll pass," Chiaki said. "But I have been there before."

"Have you?"

"It was before I entered Hope's Peak Academy for the first time," she told him. "I broke all the records on the boards, so I decided never to come back." She then yawned. "I'm tired."

Hajime recalled a promise he had made earlier that day and blushed deeply. "Does this mean I have to carry you?"

"You don't have to... I-I think..."

Before she could say anything else, she fell onto the sidewalk.

"Chiaki!" Hajime called out as he rushed to her side. She mumbled some nonsense.

He quickly picked her up and laid her on his back. Then he began the journey back to Hope's Peak Academy with Chiaki clinging onto him.

For a few minutes they traveled in silence. He thought about what Chiaki had said prior to collapsing - how could she have beat everyone's high scores on her first trip to a particular arcade?

"You're really amazing at playing video games, aren't you?" Hajime said out loud.

"Well..." Chiaki's voice had become quiet enough that he could barely make out what she was saying. "There is one genre that I'm bad at."

"Really? Like what, sports?"

"No... Dating sims."

"Dating sims?" Hajime repeated. There were video games that Chiaki was bad at?

"I never know what to do... when I'm trying to date virtual characters... I always pick the wrong options and scare them away."

Hajime lightly chuckled. "I kind of get that." He didn't play dating sims, but he fully knew what it was like to be scared of saying the wrong thing during dates.

Both of them were silent for a moment. He felt Chiaki's entire weight on his back, but he still didn't mind carrying her - it was a burden he could shoulder for a little while longer.

"Hajime..." Chiaki eventually said. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "I was really nervous when I woke up this morning... I was afraid I was going to mess up our date. I even asked one of my friends for help."

"What?" he said. "You did?"

"My friend told me to ask you a lot of questions and smile a lot... And I did that, and after a while... I didn't have to worry anymore."

To Hajime, that made sense: He was feeling just as worried as she was. But it also occurred to him that someone with an Ultimate-level talent was telling him this.

_I guess talent doesn't equal perfection,_ he thought.

"Hajime... Did I do all right?"

He briefly stopped walking. "I... Chiaki, of course you did all right. I had a lot of fun today. Did you?"

"Yeah..."

Her body still weighed on him, but Hajime had never felt more free in his entire life.

Soon he saw Hope's Peak Academy growing closer and closer. Hajime knew he was returning to his prison, to a world of bleary eyes and broken dreams. Yet by escaping it for a few hours, he had gotten a different perspective.

Was his situation so hopeless?

It didn't have to be, Hajime told himself. As long as he had Chiaki by his side, he could find a way out of his own pit of despair.


End file.
